Senile Dementia, also known as Alzheimer's disease, is a progressive and lethal neurodegenerative disease. The clinical manifestations of patients are the deteriorated cognitive and memory function, the progressive decline of living ability, and a variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms and behavioral disorders. Many studies have clearly shown that lack of acetylcholine and decreased expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are common in patient's brain.
According to the literature, α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor positive allosteric modulator (PAM) has an effect of increasing the ability of learning and memory. Experiments show that compared to the control group of mice having α7nAChR subunit, mice lacking α7nAChR subunit have lower learning and memory ability in the water maze test. α7nAChR PAMs function differently from agonists, with less possibility of causing desensitization, and the potential side effects will be greatly reduced. By regulating the pathway of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, we hope to find a new type of therapy for the treatment of a series of central nervous system diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.